Stopper for anchor chain

ABSTRACT

APPARATUS FOR WINDING AN ANCHOR CHAIN IS PROVIDED WITH A GRIPPER THAT IS PIVOTALLY SUPPORTED FREELY ON A SHAFT. THE SHAFT IS PROVIDED WITH A THREADED BORE EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY THERETHROUGH AND THROUGH WHICH EXTENDS A DRIVE SCREW FOR SHIFTING THE SHAFT AND THE GRIPPER THEREALONG. A DRIVING ARRANGEMENT IS PROVIDED TO PIVOT THE GRIPPER TOWARD AND AWAY FROM THE ANCHOR CHAIN AS SELECTIVELY REQUIRED, AND TO ROTATE THE DRIVE SCREW SO THAT THE GRIPPER CAN BE SHIFTED ALONG THE ANCHOR CHAIN.

United States Patent [72] In ventors Boris Andreevich Bugaenko Prospekt Lenina, 30 kv. 32; Vasily Dmitrievich Koltygo, Prospekt Lenina, 30 kv. 30, Nikolaev, U.S.S.R.

[21] AppL No. 772,529

[22] Filed Nov. 1,1968

[45] Patented June 28, 1971 [54] STOPPER FOR ANCHOR CHAIN l0 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

52 0.5.01 114/200 151 1m.c1 ..B63b21/l8 so FieldoiSearch 114/200 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,365,734 1/1968 Petrie etal 114/200 Primary Examiner-Andrew H. Farrell Attorney-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen ABSTRACT: Apparatus for winding an anchor chain is pro vided with a gripper that is pivotally supported freely on a shaft. The shaft is provided with a threaded bore extending transversely therethrough and through which extends a drive screw for shifting the shaft and the gripper therealong. A driving arrangement is provided to pivot the gripper toward and away from the anchor chain as selectively required, and to rotate the drive screw so that the gripper can be shifted along the anchor chain.

PATENTED JUN28 19?:

SHEET 1 BF 3 PATENTED JUN28 IHYI' SHEET 3 [IF 3 STOPPER FOR ANCHOR CHAIN The present invention relates to ship deck auxiliary mechanisms and, more particularly, to stoppers designed for locking an anchor chain. Most effectively the present invention can be used on ships equipped with remote control over deck mechanisms.

Known in the prior art are stoppers for an anchor chain, comprising a plate with guides for the chain, between which guides there is disposed a gripper mounted for turning in a plane perpendicular to the plate and movable along the chain by means of a screw pair. The gripper has a roller provided at the rear side thereof for interaction with the upper flat portion of a movable stop, which portion remains parallel with respect to the chain during the displacement of the stop.

When locking the cable, the gripper is raised by means of the movable stop until the gripper projections move into a gap between the horizontal chain links, whereupon the gripper is displaced along the chain by means of a screw pair to pull the chain, the latter operation being performed when fixing the anchor in its trip." position.

The chain may be released by lowering the movable stop, said screw pair and movable stop having individual drives.

The use of known stoppers of the aforesaid type is fraught with difficulties caused by the fact that the movements of the screw pair and of the movable stop are not coordinated. When locking the chain, the projections of the gripper do not always move into the gaps between the horizontal chain links, which makes it necessary to displace the gripper along the chain by means of the screw pair manually until it occupies an appropriate position, and then to raise the movable stop again. As a result of this, it is possible to use remote control only when releasing the chain.

The present invention has as its object the elimination of the aforesaid difficulties and the provision of such a stopper for an anchor chain which would be relatively simple in design and would provide for coordination between the movements of the gripper screw pair and the movable stop and thus would make it possible to use remote control for locking an anchor chain.

In accordance with the aforesaid object there is proposed a stopper used for an anchor chain, whose gripper is mounted on the stopper plate for turning in a plane perpendicular to the plate by means of a movable stop, and movable along the chain by a screw-pair.

In accordance with the present invention the stopper employs a drive with a differential mechanism, the axes of whose satellites are operatively connected to a screw pair, and the driven central wheel connected to a movable stop, said screw pair having a brake.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention it is expedient to provide for such a design of the brake which would have three successively mounted friction discs, the first disc being rigidly connected to the axes of the differential mechanism satellites, the second disc being connected to the,

body of the stopper for displacement along the axis of the first disc, and the third disc being connected by means of a slit or a key joint to one of the members of the screw pair transmission and spring-loaded in the direction of the first disc.

It is expedient to provide the first and the third discs with chamfered projections to disengage the third disc from contact with the second disc by way of direct cooperation of said chamfered projections, or through intermediate bodies, for instance balls.

A substantial advantage of the present invention lies in the fact that it provides for reliable remote control over the stopper, which is rather simple in design.

The following description of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is given with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 a side view of the portion of a stopper, according to the present invention, where an anchor chain passes in locked position and with a portion partially cut away to show a guide;

FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. I with the anchor chain in the position of dropping the anchor;

FIG. 3 is a section along line Ill-III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a stopper with a drive (top view, the drive shown in cross section;

- FIG. 5 is a section along line V-V of FIG. 4 (enlarged view);

FIG. 6 is an embodiment of the unit shown in FIG. 5.

A stopper for an anchor chain 1 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 3) has a gripper 2, disposed between guides 3 (FIGS. 1, 2) which constitute a portion of a plate 4 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 3) of the stopper body 5. The gripper 2 is mounted with a gap on a shaft 6 and is capable of turning relative said shaft in a plane perpendicular to the plate 4. The gripper 2 turns owing to the vertical displacement of a movable stop 7 maintained horizontally under said gripper.

The stop 7 is capable of the aforementioned displacement owing to two levers 8 and 9 hinged to the stop 7. The lever 9 which is operatively connected to a motion nut 10 (FIGS. 3, 4) through a lever 11, serves as a driving link.

A screw 12 connected to lever 11 is imparted rotation by a differential mechanism 13 (FIG. 4) driven by an electric motor 14 through a worm gear 15. The differential mechanism 13 has a driving conical central wheel 16, made integral with the worm wheel of the gear 15 and freely mounted for rotation on a shaft which is rigidly connected to the axis of satellites 18. The driving conical central wheel 16 imparts rotation to a driven conical central wheel 19 (which is also free-mounted on the shaft 17) through satellites 18. The driven conical central wheel 19 imparts rotation to a bevel gear 20 of the screw 12.

The shaft 6, on which the gripper 2 is mounted, has a transverse threaded hole and is mounted on a screw 21, owing to which fact the gripper 2 is capable of a certain displacement along the chain to pull the latter in the course of the locking thereof and/or to bring the projection 22 of the gripper 2 into the gap between the horizontal links of the chain 1.

The screw 21 is imparted rotation by the shaft 17 through bevel gears 23 and 24. The coordination between the turn of the gripper 2 relative the shaft 6 and the movement of the gripper 2 along the chain 1 is provided by a brake 25 disposed on said shaft 17. This brake 25 has three successively mounted friction discs 26, 27 and 28, the first disc 26 being rigidly connected by means of a key joint 29 to the shaft 17, rigidly connected to the axes of the satellites 18 of the differential mechanism 13.

The second disc 27 is mounted in linear guides 30 of the stopper body 5, which linear guides 30 are parallel to the rotation axis of the discs 26 and 28, the disc 27 being essentially the member of the brake, which trusts against the stopper body 5 by means of projections disposed between the guides 30. The third disc 28 is connected by means of a slit joint 31 to the bevel gear 24, which serves as one of the members imparting rotation to the screw 21. The third disc 28 of the brake 25 may be connected to the bevel gear 24 by means of a key joint (in case the acting loads are small).

The third disc 28 is freely for rotation mounted on the shaft 17 and is loaded by a spring 32 through an angular lever 33 in the direction of the first disc 26.

The first 26 and the third 28 discs of the brake 25 have chamfered projections (FIG. 5) to disengage the third disc 28 from contact with the second disc 27 (FIG. 4) by way of cooperation of said chamfered projections through intermediate bodies or balls 35 (FIG. 5).

When small loads are acting, the chamfered projections 34 (FIG. 6) may interact without aid of any intermediate bodies.

The force of the spring 32 is chosen such as to make all the three discs 26, 27 and 28 press against one another of the brake 25 and thrust through the second disc 27 against the stopper body 5 in all the positions of the gripper, except such when the gripper 2 rests upon the horizontal link of the chain, or the movable stop 7 (FIG. I), or the projections 36 and 37 of the stopper body 5.

In the first position, i.e. when the brake 25 is locked by the stopper body 5, the shaft 17 does not rotate, and the differential l3 imparts motion to the movable stop 7 only. In case the projection 22 of the gripper 2 moves into the gap between the chain I horizontal links, the movable stop 7 presses the gripper 2 until the former rests against the projection 36 of the stopper body 5, whereupon the rotation of the gear 20 and the driven conical central wheel 19 of the differential l3 discontinues.

The shaft 17 starts turning due to the angular displacement it is imparted by the satellites 18, as a result of which the chamfered projections 34 of the disc 26 start cooperating with the chamfered projections 34 of the disc 28 through the balls 35.

The disc 28 starts moving upwards, overcoming the force of the spring 32, and leaves the disc 27 thrust against the stopper body 5, whereupon the differential starts imparting rotation to the screw 21. As a result of this, the gripper 2 moves to the left along the chain 1 until the projection 22 of the gripper 2 moves into the gap between the chain 1 horizontal links.

The spring 32 overcomes the reactive momentum imparted to the differential mechanism by the screw 12, and the brake 25 is again locked by the stopper body 5,'as a result of which the movable stop 7 starts moving upwards again and, consequently, the gripper 2, until the movable stop 7 rests against the projection 36 of the stopper body 5.

Thereupon, the brake 25 is disengaged and, the gripper 2 moves in the aforedescribed manner, and the anchor chain is pulled, the value of the chain tension being determined by the value of compression of the spring 32.

A guide rod 38 of the spring 32 is kinematically connected to a terminal switch 39, this connection being adjusted in such a manner that, when the anchor chain attains a necessary tension, the electrical motor 14 is switched off.

The anchor chain 1 is dropped by performing the aforedescribed operations in the reverse order, i.e. when the electric motor 14 rotates in a direction opposite to that in which it rotated when the chain 1 was being locked.

The extreme upper-positions of the gripper 2 are controlled by the operator in accordance with indications on the control board having an electrical connection with the sensors of the position of the movable stop 7.

In order to make the operation of the stopper still more reliable, there are provided handles 40 and 41 used for manual rotation of the shaft 17 and 12.

When controlling the operation of the stopper by hand, the kinematic connection between the screw 12 and the differential is discontinued by way of disengaging the screw 12 from the bevel gear 20 by means of a jaw clutch 42. For this purpose, the gear 20 is rigidly secured on a shaft 43 connected with the movable portion of the jaw clutch 42, said shaft being disposed inside the screw 12. With a handle 44 turned, the movable portion of the jaw clutch moves to the right, as a result of which the connection between the screw 12 and the shaft 43 is discontinued.

A test specimen of the stopper for an anchor chain, made in accordance with the present invention and having the dimensions of l200 800X500 mm. and the weight of 400 kg., is designed for locking an anchor in the trip position with the force of holding it equal to 0,000 N.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for operating on an anchor chain, said appara'tus comprising a body, a gripper for engaging said anchor chain, first means including a support shaft for pivotally supporting said gripper on said body for movement toward and away from said anchor chain, second means for shiftably supporting said gripper on said body for movement along said anchor chain, said support shaft having a threaded bore transversely extending therethrough, said second means including a drive screw threadably seated in said threaded bore of said support shaft, first drive means for rotating said gripper about said support shaft toward and away from said anchor chain, and second drive means for rotating said screw in said support shaft to move said support shaft and thereby said gripper along said anchor chain.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first drive means includes stop means connected to said gripper and engageable with said body.

. Apparatus as claimed in'claim 2, including a pair of spaced parallel levers, said levers including opposite end portions, one end portion of each of said levers being pivotably connected to said body, the other end portion of each of said levers being pivotably connected to said stop means, said levers, stop means, and body constituting together a quadratic linkage wherein said stop means is pivotably displaceable parallel to said body.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said second drive means includes a first drive shaft rotatably supported in said body, a second drive shaft rotatably supported in said body transversely of said first drive shaft and parallel to said drive screw, and gear means for connecting said first drive shaft to said drive screw and said second drive shaft to said first drive shaft.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, including means for interconnecting said second drive shaft and said stop means for displacing said stop means and thereby imparting rotation to said gripper.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, including a motor for imparting rotation to said first drive shaft to thereby rotate said second drive shaft and said drive screw respectively, through said gear means.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, including first manual means for manually rotating said first drive shaft independently of said motor and second manual means for manually rotating said second drive shaft independently of said first manual means.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, including brake means operatively associated with said first drive shaft for controlling the relative displacements of said gripper pivotably about said support shaft and shiftably along said drive screw.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said brake means includes three friction discs engageable successively with one another, a first of said discs being fixedly connected to said first drive shaft, a second of said discs being supported by said body opposite said first disc, and a third of said discs being connected to a portion of said gear means interconnecting said first drive shaft and said drive screw, said brake means further including spring means for biasing said third disc toward said first disc.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein said first and third discs include chamfered projections cooperable with one another for disengaging said third disc from contact with said second disc. 

